


Mobile Suit Gundam: Blood Red Brimstone

by DigitAlli



Category: Gundam & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen, Gundams, Minor Character Death, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:27:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25980586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DigitAlli/pseuds/DigitAlli
Summary: A whole new Gundam universe inspired by the likes of Turn A, Zeta, and Iron Blooded Orphans!What happens when the slate doesn't want to be wiped clean?On the planet of Venus, 200 years after colonization efforts were abandoned due to trouble on the home front, the planet has eeked out it's own existence free from the rest of the Solar System's governments, largely forgotten about by those on Earth and Mars. When governments and their megacorporate sponsors come looking to "reclaim" Venus from "Whatever savages remain", an all-girls Private Military Company, Asynjur, rises to the occasion, as does its star pilot, Freyja Rain Atkins and her Gundam Brynhild.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	1. Welcome to Venus

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, I know this isn't an anime, and I doubt it ever will be, but if it were, this would be the OP  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL8Q_ZK8GjA
> 
> With that out of the way, thank you for looking at my fic! I know this isn't your usual Gundam story, but it's not like Gundam has its own strict set of rules, really. I wanted to go wild and tell a specific type of story, so if all I need is a big white mobile suit, and I can slap the name Gundam on it, well, let's go.
> 
> And I should probably say, Gundam belongs to Sunrise and Tomino. I'm just playing in their sandbox and building a whole new weird sandcastle.
> 
> Enjoy the fic and don't be scared to leave feedback!

  
It was monsoon season on Venus, at least in this part of the planet. The air was wet and heavy, making work on the mobile suits hell. They weren’t designed for such wet conditions, the crew had gone through more lithium grease than expected, thrusters that couldn’t be coated with chobham corroded over time and had to be replaced or welded over, and the Sif mobile suits were, at best, grunts. Besides that, the humidity isn’t great for humans either. So thought MS mechanic Layla Kazama, as she welded away on the 3rd set of Sif thrusters that day. Thunder cracked in the distance, and she looked up from her work, welding helmet lazily propped up and looking towards the source of the noise. She sighed.

“Alright ladies, pack it in, she’s decided we’ve worked hard enough for today” Layla barked to the rest of her crew, moving the suits inside. One remained outdoors, and upon seeing whose suit it was, she sighed again and chuckled under her breath. “Rain, you’re a damn fool.”

Freyja Rain Atkins sat on top of her Mobile Suit, a standout from the rest of the grunt suits on base. It was white, gold, and red in color, stocky, and under the boxy armor that had been installed by her PMC, the suit looked weirdly feminine. It was almost a comfort object to Rain, she thought of her body much the same way as Gundam Brynhild’s. She was on top of the Gundam’s head, watching the storm roll in. It was calming to her, the monsoons here on Venus were never too bad, and she liked the pitter patter of the rain on the roof of the barracks at night.

“Rainy sweetie, that includes you too!” Kazama’s voice crackled out of the speaker on her Sif.

“Oh, shit, uh yeah hold on!” Rain shouted back before swinging into the cockpit of Gundam Brynhild. She slipped in the cable to her DNI, and the Gundam lit up starting at the cockpit. The cameras came online, and Rain flipped the switches to engage the Gundam’s reactors. A whirr, a sizzle.

**FWOOM!** **  
** **  
** A neon blue trail of exhaust exited the Gundam’s head like a firey ponytail. Rain smiled, she liked it that way. She walked over to the large tin quonset that the Mobile Suits were stored and worked on in, slowly letting off the reactor throttle and setting her Gundam up on one of the racks. The reactors disengaged, and the ponytail, which had become more of a bun thanks to Rain’s slow disengagement, extinguished and she hopped out of the cockpit, riding one of the scaffolds like a fire pole. 

“Never gets old for you, does it Rain?” Layla looked at Rain like she already knew the answer.

“Nah. It's weirdly affirming. Honestly it makes me a better fighter, I think.” Rain said, looking back up at the Brynhild before turning back to Layla. “I like this thing. I’ve been in, uh, a lot of MS before, this is the first one I’ve ever, y’know… liked piloting.” She smiled ever so slightly, brief flashbacks of her time in other PMCs making her shake a little bit, but that couldn’t get her anymore. She was with Asynjur now, and even then, Venus had been abandoned a couple decades ago anyways, most of those old PMCs either left or had been wiped out by the planet’s ever-changing weather. It had finally settled into a pattern 3 years ago, and the planet was… habitable, Rain supposed you could call it that. It wasn’t very good, and PMCs like Asynjur really only worked small security jobs here and there for everyone from farmers to local governments, enough to get by. They’d abandoned the ECGB’s currency a few years back too, finding that they could trade with the few space freighters that still flew out towards Venus, whether it was scraps of old Mobile Suits or other resources, for whatever they needed. Ballistics were enough to work the small jobs on Venus, not like many ever attacked, the worst thing you could find was a lone ranger type with his own custom Sif, which Brynhild always made short work of anyways. It was fun enough though, the occasional tussle with a dude who thought he was hot shit, Rain treated them like a cat does a mouse, she plays with them, makes them think they have a chance and then ends it before they can say “Oh shit.” 

Rain followed Layla into the mess hall, where the cook, affectionately known as Gramma, was passing out plates of some sort of orange veggies to the girls that formed Asynjur. “Ah, Rain, Layla, sit down. Rain, don’t worry I made something a little extra today too.” Rain sat down to a big, heaping mound of buta kimchi, which she happily wolfed down before course 2, a fried zucchini that was delightfully spicy.   
  
A chorus of “Thanks Gramma!” erupted from the girls, ranging from 12 to 30 years of age, to which Gramma, who was in her 50s, chuckled and brushed it off.   
  
“Don’t mention it, I’m happy that you kids give me a roof over my head!”, the entire mess hall bursting into laughter. Rain just smiled softly. Piloting the Brynhild was exhausting but she really loved these girls, they were more family than anything else she’d ever had. She thanked whoever may be watching for them, and that Asynjur may keep the peaceful jobs that they’d been getting for years at this point. She liked the flow of her life these days. She brushed her salmon-colored hair out of her face and dug into the second course of the night. This was alright, Rain could go for a few more years of this.

* * *

  
  


A gavel struck 3 times, resonating throughout the Congress Hall. “The Earth Conglomerate Governing Body, in collaboration with board members from Goldman Macrotechnology, GMF Natural Resource, and the Mars Commonwealth Board, have unanimously ratified Congressional Order #45734, initiating Operation Tabula Rasa.” The hall erupted into clapping and cheering, most citizens didn’t even know what this operation was meant to do. They thought it was just another military thing, something the ECGB was always attempting to pull. Few people on Earth or Mars cared about this, really. It didn’t affect them so it must be good, right?

Mobile suits, tanks, frigates and other manners of war machinery were loaded onto giant mega carriers, bound for Venus. On the outside, the government and corporate generals maintained this would be a peaceful mission, where they were going, if there was anyone left, they would be helping those people! Clearly, the ECGB was doing some good here, and having corporate sponsors was great for PR too. They painted themselves as pioneers going west, exploring new territory, and for everyone watching the news they might as well have been. The Earth always needed resources, and Venus seemed to be chock full of them. If there wasn’t anyone there, they were free for the Earth to take.

On Mars, they’d long forgotten their struggles against the old Earth governments to establish themselves as an independent power, not a colony. That was centuries ago, and for the Martian citizens, it was ancient history. They saw themselves now as a power on par to the ECGB, and with the Earth reaching out to form a joint exploratory force with the Martian army, who were they to say no? Peace was a nice thing to have when it came to interplanetary relations, and everyone working together would be the feel-good story of the century at the very least.

200 years before our present day, the ECGB hadn’t even existed. Instead, the governments of Earth saw it fit to try to tame Venus and procure it’s resources. This was considered a failure, as the governments of Earth had conflicting visions for Venus and never once considered the thoughts of those living and working on Venus, seeing it as no more than a pile of resources with a poisonous atmosphere. Riots ensued, and the records were buried and Venus forgotten about when conflict on the homefront created the ECGB and it’s sister government, the MCB. People have largely forgotten about the attempted colonization of Venus, and it’s records are only known to the ECGB and MCB, along with select corporate partners that are essential to the success of Tabula Rasa.   
  
The citizens of Venus had been forgotten about decades ago, and were not informed of the decision.

* * *

  
  


Another day, another small patrol, this time for the town of Helvetia. Helvetia is located in the Guinevere Planitia, what is now a fertile region. It is a farming town, mainly concentrated on cereal grains with small dairies peppered throughout the town’s surrounding area. Today’s crew was the Brynhild, and 2 Sifs piloted by 2 fresh pilots, Livvy Harte & Danielle Romero. Asynjur has a policy of not letting anyone under 18 fight unless completely necessary. This was actually suggested by Rain, being a former child soldier scarred her for life, both physically and mentally, and she wasn’t about to inflict that on anyone else willingly. Livvy & Danielle had turned 18 about 6 and 7 months ago, and had trained in Sif simulators since turning 18, rather than be ground troops. This was their first real world mission, though they’d gotten some practice in the Sifs before, because moving a Sif in a sim is a lot different than moving a real hunk of metal. Rain was quite impressed at their abilities to maneuver the Sif to the pickup point as they’re sometimes described as “clunky old cannon fodder suits”, at least in some of her old positions, mechanics hated the Sif because it was poorly built. However, it turns out that if you take care of them properly, Sifs aren’t half bad. It is possible to become an ace in a Sif, as Rain had used to be, before she became the pilot of the Gundam Brynhild.

The Brynhild. Standing 20m tall with a white, gold, and faded red paint scheme, weighing 30 tons loaded for bear, it was maybe 3m taller than the standard Sif suit, and definitely stuck out against the dusty yellow-orange of the Sif. Boxy white plates of old Chobham were added by Asynjur when Rain joined their ranks, however this is usually optional as Rain prefers the sleeker form of the Brynhild sans armor. The power plant is a pair of 200 year old microfusion reactors that run extremely hot, of which the exhaust ignites in Venus’ atmosphere, creating the signature Heat Haze Tail. Normally, on Mars or Earth, this tail is non-existant, but due to residual compounds in the atmosphere of Venus, the Brynhild has a 3m long ponytail made of neon blue trailing it when it’s in operation. The Gundam was designed to use a beam rifle and sabers at some point during it's original tenure, but these have since been lost, destroyed or gotten rid of. Beam weapons are expensive to run and maintain, and this is something a PMC like Asynjur cannot afford working for mainly barter. The rifle has been replaced with a 300mm anti-material rifle and a large, metal vibroblade. Alternatively, the Gundam Hammer, a rocket booster powered flail can also be used for 1 on 1 engagements versus other Mobile Suits. However, Rain's skill with the vibroblade far outclasses that of any other weapon in her arsenal. Rain is a close combatant first and foremost.

Rain. She came into possession of the Brynhild around the time she was 17. This was after her original suit, a Sif she'd maintained for years under another PMC, was cored and resulted in Rain losing her arm. The PMC assumed she was dead, as a reactor explosion like that doesn't leave survivors. They hadn't seen Rain eject. The crater left by her Sif exploding had unearthed the Brynhild, of which she was familiar with, due to the records of 10 Gundam Class Mobile Suits having been used in the First Conquest of Venus 200 years ago. She'd assumed they were all lost to the planet, with the ever changing weather and volatility. But the Brynhild was intact. Operable, even. She stumbled over to the Gundam, wrapping the stump of her arm in her undershirt, and clambered into the cockpit. A DNI. Rain had one put in just a year ago for her own MS, she found it easier than trying to control it like a heavy piece of machinery. And she lucked out when the Gundam could read the info her DNI put out. She piloted the Gundam, nursing her torn off arm back to her PMC. They didn't see it fit to keep Rain around anymore due to her missing an arm, and tried to take the Brynhild for themselves. Rain couldn't do much, except watch as the guy they wanted to pilot the suit get his brain fried. The suit didn't like his DNI, she supposed.

Rain and the Brynhild had been inseparable ever since. She fell in with Asynjur after taking the Gundam one night and jetting off to the other side of the planet, trying to find a cyberdoc that could make her a new arm or at least clean this stump up.

Lost in thought, Rain flexed her cyberarm's fingers. Felt fine, but weird. She had gotten used to the arm being a little funny feeling, and the phantom pain hadn't gone away in the 5 years since she found the Brynhild. She could deal though. She's a big girl. She shook herself out of the daydream, letting Dani and Livvy handle the negotiating was also a good call on her part, then they wouldn't have to rely on Rain to do it in the future, which would allow Asynjur to take more jobs in the future. She had the Gundam kneel so she could swing out of the cockpit, as she saw the girls returning. 

"How's it looking ladies?" She swung down on one of the safety rails along the Gundam’s leg, landing in front of Dani and Livvy.   
  
“All good Rain!” They both gave a thumbs up. “It looks like they’re gonna pay us pretty well. A few acres of sweet corn, some of their potato and bean stores too. Also a couple pounds of various meats, so that’ll make Gramma happy.” Livvy looked at some pen she’d written on the back of her hand.   
  
“Yeah, anything else? Ammo or bits n’ pieces?”   
  
“Yup, a few crates of 300, 3 pallets of 120mm…”   
  
Rain smiled big, she was awfully proud of them and what they managed to pull off. “Wonderful. So then let’s make it worth what they’ve given us, alright?” The two younger girls nodded as Rain climbed back up into the Brynhild’s cockpit and engaged the DNI. The Gundam’s reactors span up and the trademark ponytail appeared with a sound like a moon-sized blowtorch. The Brynhild stood up at it’s full height, chambering a round into the 300mm rifle in case things went south. The pair of Sifs behind her also stood up, their 180mm carbines primed for combat should it ever come to that. Not that it ever did, jobs in Helvetia were usually peaceful. However, because of where the town is located, they have an abundance of resources that may be ripe for the taking, so in the event that anything would go wrong, it would be well protected by Asynjur’s Mobile Suits. Today’s job was escorting an important cargo convoy from another town, Truth’s Well, to Helvetia. Fuel cells for the town’s microfusion power plant, basic bulk foodstuffs, and trade items from the raw materials procured in Truth’s Well to those in Helvetia that could make something out of it. After negotiating payment in Helvetia, the lance would make their way over to Truth’s Well at the base of a crater nearby, at least by MS, and escort the convoy from there.

Upon landing in Truth’s Well, the lance found their convoy at the town’s depot. For a bunch of little independent anarchist towns governing themselves, the civilians of Venus are very well organized in helping each other. It’s all for mutual benefit, there’s no reason to withhold it and not work together. With no currency or other economic incentive to do so, those who live on Venus openly collaborate in exchange for whatever, this includes the PMCs. The convoy was made of roveresque trucks with multiple trailers, the Brynhild taking the helm, one Sif on the side and one at the rear.

It was a very standard convoy operation. Just escort the trucks to Helvetia and pick up the ammo and food and all good. A very calm first mission for Dani & Livvy. They may not appreciate the lack of combat, but as Rain thought to herself, that’s probably for the best.  _ Better complaining than dead _ , she thought. The later they saw combat, the easier they’d accept that this job isn’t all glory and crazy fights. Sometimes being a Mobile Suit pilot is boring work like this, and you do it because it’s what you’re good at and what they pay you to do. Or, if you’re the altruistic type like Rain, you do it for the good of the towns and the planet. If you’re like Rain, you’ve lived in the same spot your whole life but hadn’t found home or a family until recently, and you’d do anything to protect that family. If that meant spending an hour in the cockpit of a Mobile Suit to procure food and ammo for her family? She’d take it, and she’d have to teach Dani and Livvy to accept this as well. The most combat Venus had these days was skirmishes between PMCs, nothing special, nothing like 200 years ago, the wartime her Gundam was designed for.

It was a very standard convoy operation. Two Otr Mobile Suits stood far, far out of the convoy’s field of view. “Seems to be 3 trucks, 2 Sifs, and… some other white mobile suit.”   
  
“Don’t worry about it, it doesn’t look to be much of a threat. See, they’re carrying ballistics, they don’t pose too much of a threat. Also, two of them are Sifs. We can take them easily. So the plan is” the pilot lowered his Otr’s beam rifle, “We take out the Sifs from at range and then go in and deal with the white one.”   
  
The other Otr, holding a beam sniper, the extra reactor in a large backpack, knelt down and took position. “Yes Sir!” the pilot said as he took aim at the rear Sif. The other Otr revealed a missile rack, and took aim at the other.   
  
“Remember, don’t damage the cargo! That’s what we’re here to take Ensign Vosky!”   
  
“Yes Sir!” as the beam left the end of the rifle, and rockets streaked towards the convoy.

Dani’s Sif, on the rear, was the first to sound the alarm. “Behind us! Rockets incoming!”    
  
“Use your thrusters Dani! Just go off to one side!” as Rain barked this into her comms, Dani went diving off into the ditch, hastily drawing for her Carbine. “Deep breaths girl. You’ll be ok.” In the spot where Dani’s Sif was, a laser burned through the air, Dani gulping in horror as she thought,  _ That could have been my head. _

“Girls keep your head on a swivel! Where’d that beam come from?” Rain was all serious, the stiff bark in her voice taking the reins of the situation.   
  
“15 degrees North by Northwest!” Livvy frantically yelped into her comms. She was also on the defense, the convoy having pulled over to the side. Both Sifs lay prone to the ground, Carbines drawn and poised to fire should the enemy show themselves. Rain was doing a sweep of the area, the anti-material rifle looking for something to blast to smithereens. She saw a glint on the horizon. A Mobile Suit. She engaged the Brynhild's thrusters and dashed towards the Otr.

"Sir! The white suit has spotted us!" The ensign was beginning to lose his cool. He fired a shot at the fast approaching MS, not taking the time to aim. The Gundam appeared to fall out of the way of the blast, resuming it's mad dash towards the offending Otr. Dust kicked up behind the Brynhild as the ponytail danced around behind it, leaving a blue trail behind the Mobile Suit.   
  
“Girls, provide cover fire, I’m engaging at close range.” Rain slammed the foot throttle on the Gundam, sending it hurtling forward with a cloud of dust and rock behind it. Digging in its heels, Rain stopped right in front of the Otr Sniper, and barked though the speaker, “Excuse me, who might you be and what are you doing firing at  _ my  _ convoy?”. She stuck the rifle right under the Otr’s chin, finger on the trigger. “Make it snappy.”   
  
“E-Ensign Roland V-Volsky I I I” The pilot stammered, clearly scared for his life. Rain just smiled.   
  
“Oh? And who are you with?” Rain jammed the gun further into the Mobile Suit. Playing with her food again, that’s typical Rain. She radioed the rest of her Lance. “Anything look funny? Any additional suits?” Her eyes flicked around the cockpit’s AR view, looking for any signs of additional suits or even tanks. Should a tank find the right spot, an anti armor shell could pierce the Chobham armor, or worse, the plate steel on the thrusters, and she’d be a sitting duck.   
  
“One more MS! Another Otr! 5 o’clock!” Dani shouted back, her gun trained on the suit she’d just called out.   
  
“Alright ladies new plan!” Rain shouted as she drew her blade, whipping around while keeping the gun anchored in Volsky’s Otr. Her idea, bring the sword down hard on the guy trying to charge her. If he decided to engage at range, she’d use the cannon to blow Volsky away and get into her favorite place, up in the enemy’s face. She also had fire support from Dani & Livvy, this should be fine. “I’m gonna blow this guy away if the other one tries anything funny! Though I’d rather take this babbling idiot hostage, the mystery pilot might have to do! Move in ladies, it’s time for your first taste of combat!”   
  
“Yes Ma'am!” Dani & Livvy seemed to yell in sync. They sounded excited, Rain didn’t feel super good about that, but enthusiasm gets you far in a lot of cases. Rain shrugged, and in one fluid motion, drew the Brynhild’s sword and turned to face the other Otr. It was heavily decorated unlike the one she currently held at gunpoint, and she could swear it was shaking thanks to the pilot doing the same. Hilarious.   
  
Lieutenant Olaff Argoe watched as this strange white Mobile Suit had zipped up, avoided a sniper shot, and now, holding the Ensign at gunpoint, apparently with the intention of interrogation. “How unprofessional.” he muttered as he drew the Otr’s beam rifle. He wasn’t ready for the Gundam to turn around to face him, a shot intended for the back thrusters landing on the Gundam’s shoulder, a burn spot forming and the smell of singed fiberglass filling the air. Olaff stood his ground, steeling his face and shouting through the speaker, “Crossing Jormungand was your last mistake, missy.”   
  
Rain raised an eyebrow. “Uh huh, sure. Whatever you say.” she muttered and drew her sword. As Dani & Livvy came from behind to engage the Ensign, Rain removed the gun from his suit’s range and catapulted forward, blade held tight to get into range. The blue tail billowed and flared up as the foot throttle was slammed into the floor of the cockpit, Rain getting right up in the Lieutenant’s face, blade digging into a hastily raised arm. The Otr’s beam rifle was pointing right at the Brynhild’s chest, Rain nodding sagely. “Smart move old man,” as she brought the Brynhild’s knee up into the cockpit of the Otr. “But not smart enough!”

With a mighty CRUNCH, the Lieutenant’s Otr was sent staggering backwards, Rain maintaining short range. Seizing the opportunity, she grabbed the hand that held the beam rifle, attempting to mangle the hand that held it like trying to crush someone’s hand in a handshake. She grinned menacingly as she increased the grip strength, taunting Olaff. “What’s the matter? Can’t keep up with a lady?” Olaff stood his ground however, getting face to face with the Gundam.

“I don’t know what kind of suit you are, but it’s not about the suit-” Olaff took his free hand and swung it hard at the Gundam, a hidden pile bunker in his arm sending the Gundam backwards. “- It’s about the PILOT.” The Otr dropped the beam rifle off to the side and took a stance like a Sumo wrestler.   
  
“We’ll see who’s the better pilot then.” Rain growled through the speaker, blood dripping from her nose. She’d taken a smack flying backwards, along with minor stress from the DNI. She was breathing hard, and getting quite a bit pissed off with this high-and-mighty old guy. She’d also been part of Jormungand when she was younger, maybe about 14. She  _ knew  _ this dude, and while he was a talented commander, he was too old school for Rain’s liking, and if she remembered right, a bit of a bigot to boot. She was gonna teach this guy what a ‘fruity little rat’ like her could do.

Meanwhile, the pair of Sifs were dashing around the Sniper suit, trying to get in range for their Carbines to unload a few well aimed shots. “What do we do?!” Livvy said frustratedly, rolling out of the way of another sniper shot. “How do we move in on a guy that can core us with one shot?”   
  
Dani was attempting to maintain her cool. “How do we distract this guy….” She thought to herself while dodging another shot. “Wait. Livvy! I have an idea! It’s just like the simulator! We have more mobility than him, so let’s get fast! Squiggly Squid!”   
  
Livvy’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. “OF COURSE DANI! You’re so smart I could kiss you!” Dani giggled and blushed. Kiss her? She wouldn’t mind that. Livvy started dashing and rolling around, whooping and hollering. This might actually be fun! She drew her Carbine in the meantime, placing shots at the Otr’s feet to distract the Ensign. “Come on buddy! Let’s tussle!” She hollered, slamming on the thruster throttle. She took a glance over at Brynhild,  _ Rain would be ok, she’s tough as nails,  _ Livvy reassured herself. Rain was like her and Dani’s big sister, the infallible, probably the greatest Mobile Suit pilot they’d ever seen.

Danielle was busy sneaking behind, her targeting computer flashing red, then yellow, and finally… green! She let a burst of 3 rounds go, aimed right at the Sniper Otr’s backpack.  _ Thump THUNK CRUNCH. _ All 3 bullets managed to hit, the first two creating large dents in the backpack that lucky #3 was able to use to punch through.

_ Thunk thunk BONK.  _ Ensign Volsky started sweating buckets. That came from behind him. That sounded like his sniper backpack getting hit. Oh. Oh no. Volksy screamed into his comms, “LIEUTENANT CLEAR OUT I’M GOING TO GO BOOM THEY HIT MY BACKPACK!” as his suit started shaking. It was then Livvy appeared, reaching for the Otr’s cockpit and ripping it out like one would with a heart in a horror movie.

“You’re coming with me!” she quipped, flipping her Sif and jetting away from the suit which was about to become a nuclear bomb. She carried the cockpit like you do a football, jetting away from the inevitable small explosion that would be caused by a damaged microfusion reactor. That backpack looked pretty cheap and the hydrogen cells that supplied the reactor were also probably on the less-safe side; that thing was going to be a NASTY boom.  _ At least it’s not a nuke… _ Livvy shuddered as she thought about it. Her first combat outing could have been much scarier had that been an unstable reactor. She shook off the thought as she tuned into her new hostage babbling away, attempting to bargain for his freedom. Rain was going to enjoy this. Once she was far enough away, she turned around to give Danielle a thumbs up. They now looked to Rain, to see what kind of fight she’d gotten into with the Brynhild.

Rain leveled her sword. This was just an Otr, a bulkier Sif with some tricks up its sleeve. Though this guy was an accomplished pilot. That pose had her unnerved, what exactly was this guy about to try. Her eyes locked ahead, trying to figure out where to put the sword to end this as soon as possible. The exhaust ponytail got bigger and bigger as she fed the reactor more fuel. She was going to need it to get rid of this guy. All that was left was to see who would make the first move. 

“Puffing your chest out like a rooster huh?” The Lieutenant's voice crackled out over the Otr’s speaker. He maintained his Sumo stance, this way he could remain stable should the white suit try to knee him in the chest again.

“Maybe. Maybe not.” Rain dryly replied.  _ Measure twice cut once, that’s what they used to say right?  _ She took her time, not like this guy was going to move at all, he was determined to get the second hit, not the first. He was waiting for Rain to make a mistake, waiting for her to make the first bullheaded move and use that to press advantage the whole time. She wasn’t about to fall for it. Sweep the legs? No… Hack off an arm? No…. Wait.   
  


She would go on the defensive at first, feinting a swing and then backing up to get him to move on her, which, for some reason he went along with, Rain not having the time to be perplexed at his decision as the Otr made a grab at one of her arms. She dug the Gundam’s feet into the ground and pushed back, punching with her free hand into the Otr’s chest. She was attempting to rough the pilot up a bit, give him a little shake in the cockpit. It worked but the Lieutenant was not deterred, twisting the Gundam’s arm behind it. Rain, annoyed, engaged her thrusters in an effort to throw him off, however, instead was on the receiving end of a Judo throw and was flipped onto her back, the Brynhild sliding a few meters before she was able to get back up. 

Rain’s nosebleed had gotten worse in the meantime, both nostrils starting to leak now. She was gonna have a massive migraine after this one, but that wasn’t quite her decision to make, she had to keep on going. She propped herself up on her sword, making a gesture that said “Come on, I’ve got more fight in me.” The Lieutenant took her invitation, smashing into her torso with the pile bunker arm. Rain stood her ground, using the opportunity to back up and swing the sword around into the Otr’s other arm, ripping the sword backwards and sicing it off at the elbow, throwing the Mobile Suit off balance. She gave the Otr a little kick, sending it stumbling backwards so she could gain her footing. Rain engaged the thrusters and rocketed forward, raising her Gundam’s sword above its head, before quickly diving down and burying the blade in the knee joint of the Otr. Lieutenant Argoe wasn’t ready for that.

The alarm in the Otr’s cockpit was going off, screens flashing red warning of a coolant failure. A glance down at the Mobile Suit’s leg and sure enough, bright blue coolant was leaking out of a hose encased in the knee joint. Rain simply looked directly into the Otr’s cameras before yanking on the blade, hard. The teeth on the cutting edge of the blade ripped through the joint, cutting hoses, control lines, everything in the most barbaric and rough fashion. This wasn’t a clean cut, this would take ages to repair, that is, if the Lieutenant and his Mobile Suit survived. The Otr toppled to the ground onto it’s back, Rain burying her sword into the other side of the torso, pinning it to the rocky ground, placing the Gundam’s foot on the cockpit as if to open it like a trash can.

Rain emerged from the Gundam’s cockpit brandishing a large, chunky revolver. She was confident the Otr was unable to move, effectively done save for it’s pilot. “Hey, open up your cockpit, your suit is cooked, unless you want me to pry it open.” Rain tossed a rock that had been on the Gundam’s arm at the cockpit of the Otr. The cranky old Lieutenant took some coaxing to emerge, but eventually, he did. She looked down at the Lieutenant and scoffed. “Huh, you look to be in a sorry state. Last time I saw you you were in a fair bit better health. What happened, you let yourself go Olaff?”   
  
The Lieutenant was surprised. He could swear that… No. It couldn’t be that rat he got rid of years ago. He was dead for sure! No way that this girl standing in front of him was related in any way shape or form. However, he had nowhere to run. The Lieutenant simply looked up, and studied Rain’s face for a second. It couldn’t be…. “J-”   
  
“No.”   
  
**BANG. BANG. BANG.**

“I killed him a long time ago.” Rain blew the smoke off the end of the revolver, climbing back into the Gundam’s cockpit and making plans to rendezvous with the rest of her Lance. “All taken care of ladies, let’s head home.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rain gets over her migraine, learns about reactor tech for the 14th time and processes her trauma again! We also meet one of our antagonistic characters...?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I know this isn't an anime, and I doubt it ever will be, but if it were, this would be the OP  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL8Q_ZK8GjA
> 
> Gundam belongs to Sunrise and Tomino. I'm just playing in their sandbox and building a whole new weird sandcastle.
> 
> Enjoy the fic and don't be scared to leave feedback!

He wasn't someone Rain expected to see out here. As far as she knew Jormungand had gone under not long after she left. Apparently they  _ didn't.  _ She'd just get it out of that shaky Ensign later. How he made it anywhere in that organization she had no idea. Though, she was thinking that she may have to wait until after she’d had a nap and an opportunity to clean herself up. Taking in what had happened that whole battle, she inferred she must have pushed herself quite hard. There was dried blood all the way from her nose to her chest, staining the white stripes on her tanktop red.  _ No matter,  _ she thought,  _ I’ll just have to scrub this one hard. _ She took a long breath, and collapsed into the cockpit’s seat, where she sat just breathing for a little while.

Dani’s voice popped up on the Gundam’s comms. “Rain, are you alright?” It’d been a few minutes since Rain had informed her lance of the job being done, and she’d zoned out sitting in the Brynhild’s cockpit.

“Y-yeah, sorry was just taking a breather. That guy had me on the ropes.” She hid her exhaustion with humor, as was Rain’s usual. She stretched her arms and stood the Gundam up, turning it back towards the convoy.

“Oh, no problem at all take your time. Livvy & I are doing more of the same with the truck drivers.”

“Gotcha, I’ll meet up with you and we’ll decompress a bit before continuing on. Good job out there girls.” Rain smiled in that proud, sisterly way that she’d practiced. Eyes half lidded, a little bit of a snort beforehand, usually followed by her ruffling the kids’ hair. In all honesty, she just wanted to go home and sleep. There’d be at least a day before she got to do that though, so she’d take a clean bed in an inn or something, especially before she fell asleep in the cockpit.

The Brynhild sped over the reddish-orange soil that most of Venus was composed of. It was a barren environment between Truth’s Well and Helvetia, mostly waiting to be terraformed by whatever may come, though a few grasses were beginning to grow. Rain thought to herself as she drove the Gundam straight ahead. She’d probably come back with the salvage team in a few days to get the scrap from that Otr, should nobody else get to it first. The joints and especially the spare reactor would be helpful. It was rare for a Belladonna reactor to burn up but spares were always appreciated. She’d probably give Layla a call when she had time. It was nice to have just the whistle and woosh of the flame coming off the back of her Gundam for a little bit, thankfully the cockpit quieted it down considerably to almost a stream or a rainstorm like sound, oftentimes Rain would just zone out to the sound the reactor after a fight in an effort to calm down. She’d often say, “The Gundam knows when I’m pissed and starts running extra hot so I like to just decompress so I don’t go up in flames.”, and then just laugh it off.

Before she knew it, the convoy was on the horizon and she brought the Gundam to a halt. She set the reactor to idle, as you do with fusion reactors, last time the Brynhild’s reactor got shut down it had taken weeks to get the glow plug to generate enough heat to initiate nuclear fusion. Layla never let her hear the end of that one, even though that was back when she found the Brynhild… Rain figured that Layla just needed someone to listen, which Rain was always ready to do. Layla was one of the few girls her age still with Asynjur. The younger ones usually were pulled out of warzones and tended to stay as long as they were being fed, and oftentimes around the time they turned 18 they left. Dani & Livvy had decided to stay on with Asynjur, and Rain was happy to have more Mobile Suit pilots.

As she climbed out of the Gundam, Rain started to feel the pain in her head. She'd spent too long piloting the suit. Gripping her scalp she stumbled over to where Dani was standing. "Hey… got anything like… sugary? Caffinated? I'm dying over here." She looked up at the dark skinned pilot with puppy-dog eyes, like she was the only thing that could save her from certain doom.

"Uh yeah, sure Rain…" she handed Rain a tall can of a coffee-cream mixture. "Are you gonna be… ok? Do you usually get like this after piloting Brynhild?"

Rain brushed her salmon-colored hair out of her face and cracked open the can, shotgunning nearly the whole drink in one gulp. "Yeah. I get migraines sometimes, started when I was a little kid." When she came back down to lean on the bed of a truck, her bangs flew back into her face. She let a small growl escape her mouth. "Sorry if I'm irate… this hurts, a lot. The caffeine helps but.. usually I gotta nap or something. How far out of town are we?" She growled low.

"A few kilometers. Not far." Dani said flatly. "If you want we could load Brynhild onto a truck and you wouldn't have to make it worse."

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me kid." Rain stood up to her full height, around a full head over Dani. Rain was tall, but stocky. When she wasn't sleeping or working she was usually doing some sort of workout to make sure what meat she had left wouldn't fail her in the cockpit of her Gundam. She took off her patch laden jacket **,** worn from years of daily exposure to the harsh Venusian sun, and tied it around her waist. She immediately donned a pair of sunglasses as well, "Migraine. Sunlight isn't good for that." She said. 

She slowly made her way over to where Livvy had her Sif & the Otr's cockpit, still with the Ensign inside. She smacked the top of the disembodied cockpit. "Oy, quiet down, I've got a nasty fucking headache and if you make it worse your time with us will be exponentially less pleasant. Am I clear?" She growled, getting a whimper of acknowledgement from the Ensign. She turned to Livvy next. "What's your plan with this guy?"

"We'll get him back to base. I've got someone meeting us in Helvetia to pick him up so we don't have to worry about him ruining your night." The small girl smiled at Rain. Livvy in particular was like Rain's younger sister, they'd come into Asynjur together.

"Good call, excellent planning." Rain finished her drink and crushed the can in her cyberhand. "I'm gonna wanna crash when we get to town, sorry for being so useless, pushed myself way too hard."

"Hey, none of that. He almost shot my Sif's head off which I'm sure would have fried my brain through the DNI. You did great as usual, give yourself some credit. You're not nearly as dumb as you think you are." Livvy put a hand on Rain's shoulder.

"I suppose you're right.'" and Rain stalked off back to her Gundam to find a few moments of quiet. Just a moment to get her head to stop pounding. Once they hit town, she'd take some painkillers and probably sleep in late. Pushing the Brynhild like that was gonna kill her eventually. Worth it to potentially save friends? Oh yeah absolutely no question about it. But Rain knew this wasn't like boiling a frog. She wasn't going to get used to that much stress on her brain. All she could do was take some painkillers and crash for a few hours.

After a few moments with the convoy drivers gathering themselves from a Mobile Suit attack, the lance re-entered their suits and pushed the last few kilometers to the town of Helvetia. Again, Rain sent Dani & Livvy to do negotiations, this time more out of Rain being irate from her migraine. She wasn’t about to get stupid in front of the depot manager because she had a headache from defending the cargo he asked to be brought here. She looked for a place to shack up for the night so she could get some rest and get rid of the horrible awful feeling in her head. Flicking through ads and listings over her comms in complete silence she eventually decided on one that was on the outskirts of Helvetia so she could park Brynhild at least somewhat conspicuously and avoid the rigamaroll that was bringing a Mobile Suit with a Belladonna reactor into a place where people lived. 

_ Good thing I put a lot of the work onto those two _ , she thought,  _ I couldn’t even begin to… this is why you need to pace yourself Freyja, otherwise you’re useless once the fighting is over.  _ Rain was always one to belittle herself, even though she was the only one in Asynjur with the ability and strength to actually pilot Brynhild. Other pilots had tried, she saw them fail with her own two eyes. Sometimes the DNI rejected them, other times the sensory overload caused them to have strokes. In a way, she was lucky the Brynhild had chosen her. 

She set the Mobile Suit down in the back of the motel, a small establishment made of yellow-brown stucco with a terracotta colored roof. The sun was beginning to go down and so Rain put her sunglasses up on her head. She wasn’t silly enough to wear sunglasses at night, that might make her seem suspicious anyways. Not to mention the blood that had dribbled down and stained her shirt earlier. She grabbed the small duffel she usually carried inside the Gundam’s cockpit and made her way to check in. It went by without a hassle but having a splitting headache was not something she was super keen on to begin with. She barely even turned the lights on before quickly changing into an oversized t-shirt with some small holes in it for bed. She just wanted to sleep.

All you had to wake you up on Venus is the sun, no birds, no other noises. It was enough to get Rain out of bed however, feeling much better than the night before. Thankfully the migraines she got from overexerting herself in the Gundam were short after she had some rest. She yawned, almost a high pitched squeal coming from her. Small things like this delight her to no end. Stretching and slowly popping out of bed, she looked at herself in the mirror. A little scraggly, but that’s what hairbrushes and morning showers are for. Those soft eyes of hers were back though, she could see them in the mirror to the right of the bed. She smiled slightly, this meat prison had turned out alright in the end. 

A quick shower, dry and brushing and Rain was all ready, a heck of a lot less scraggly looking than before. Changing her underwear & bra, she ran her fingers along the surgery scars from the only operation she really wanted to have. She smiled, she worked long and hard for that doctor to get it but the neovagina was so worth it in the end. Feeling like yourself will do wonders for your piloting abilities it turns out. She continued to stretch herself out, a big girl like Rain is always in need of such things. A full 178cm (AN: 5’10” for those of you not well-versed in Metric), and stocky if not slender, Rain certainly fit the bill of “Big Girl”, and she liked it that way. Ever since she’d decided her name was Freyja Rain and that she was a lady, things seemed to be a lot brighter, even on such a forgotten planet like Venus. Her wavy, salmon pink hair also brought her a lot of joy, as straightened out it would reach all the way down her back. However, she preferred to keep it wavy and fluffy, and usually to tie it up so hair didn’t get stuck in the DNI socket at the base of her neck. On went a fresh shirt, solid black with a little breast pocket, and no sleeves, just in case she had another incident in the Gundam, and her usual weird pants. Before the knee, they had cargo like pockets for all sorts of things, like her knife, a few rounds for the gun she kept inside Brynhild, and other little things. Past the knee they’d get a lot skinnier, to ‘show off my calves’ as Rain liked to say. Socks and sneaker-looking boots that breathed well and of course, her leather jacket with all the patches on it. It was brown, cropped around her belly button, and featured all kinds of witty or significant patches, sometimes of PMCs she used to be in. She tied it around her waist for now, it was going to be warm today, no use sweating it out. She flung the duffle bag over her shoulder and on her way out of the lobby, tossed the room key to the bellhop and took a granola bar out of her pants pocket, munching on it as she flipped her sunglasses down to go retrieve Brynhild.

“Alright you walking arsenal, time to-” Rain threw herself and her bag up into the cockpit, “head home.” She plugged in the DNI, giving her a small jolt, and disengaged the idle switch for the reactor. The Gundam sprang to life as its ponytail of exhaust flared up behind it. She’d have to get the reactor checked out by Layla when she got back, she did sort of push the Gundam hard, always worth doing maintenance anyways. Though, she was sure there’d be an earful waiting for her when she got back. Part of it was listening to Layla chew her out about maintaining a mobile suit, part of it was listening to her wax poetic about nuclear fusion. In her honest opinion, Rain liked the latter part. It was… cool listening to Layla talk about things that made her excited and she knew a lot about. Of course, most of it flew right over Rain’s head but she at least liked to pretend to listen and ask a question or two because it made Layla happy. And hey, isn’t crew morale important? It was, so when Rain got back she’d help Layla with maintenance and humor Layla about the Belladonna reactors again. It was at least some sorta interesting.

The Asynjur home base was actually quite far from Helvetia, you’d find it with it’s back facing Idunn Mons, buried in the side. It’s a flight, but inside a Gundam traveling at speed, it only takes a few hours to get over the small seas forming in the recent years. Helvetia had to move their entire town recently and Truth’s Well changed its name when the groundwater started to swell in the center of town. It was weird, they were used to the rains of course, and rain barrels were commonplace among Venusian homes, but now that rain was starting to make lakes and seas. There’d be oceans in a few hundred years, no doubt. Rain supposed Layla might be up fixing the volcanic catalytic converter. Rain had only been falling on the planet of Venus for a few hundred years at this point, and this wasn’t quite enough to make the planet’s volcanoes quiet down. One scientist apparently had the bright idea of installing catalytic converters on them, to at least manage the greenhouse effect. Asynjur’s had the benefit of also collecting minerals that were in the volcanic spew prior to eruption, which they were able to refine and trade. It made for good business and also helped make this place habitable. Hundreds of years after the first rainclouds were seeded, Venus was still a massive hellhole. It was their hellhole though, not like leaving for Earth or Mars was an option. As far as Rain knew, she and the others here were forgotten by the rest of the Solar System.

The acid had been removed from the rain, but it still came down as hard as possible. You can breathe, but the planet is still dying to kill you. At one point in her life Rain would have been ok with that, at another she was told that was her destiny. Right now, she wasn’t about to let it kill her, she had lots left to do. Apparently, your 20s is still young, even though Rain was among the senior members of Asynjur, so Rain figured she had a while yet before it was her time to die. She had what was 30 plus little sisters in Asynjur, most of them younger than 18 and the venn diagram between that and ‘were war orphans’ being a near circle, she felt it was her duty to make sure they grew up with some semblance of safety, and if Rain could do that from the seat of a Gundam, so be it, that’s how she would live. Asynjur, thankfully, wasn’t like most PMCs on Venus. For one, it was run by and comprised of women and folks who identify as such. The founders meant it as a way to get young girls off the streets of the formerly war-torn planet and out of sex trafficking and other horrible fates, and while the decision to form a PMC was a shaky one at best, it was also an easy way to keep the girls safe. And so, Asynjur has continued to exist in that form, the all-girls PMC. Rain had been worried they wouldn’t accept her, she hadn’t been on anything like hormone treatment when she fell in front of the gates to their complex. Thankfully, Asynjur isn’t heartless, and after talking with her, the senior members arranged for her to stay and undergo whatever she wanted to feel better about her body. They arranged deliveries of cartridges for Rain’s arm that would regulate the hormones in her blood, and hooked her up with a surgeon capable of giving her GRS. Rain had stayed on despite it being encouraged she move on, as a way of her showing thanks to the PMC that had given her another chance at life. 

She had initially planned to abandon the Brynhild with whoever would take it, get some money and settle down doing something, maybe she'd be the old hag that cautioned the kids about the men in the military jackets, she figured. But something about Asynjur, how it was run and the girls she met there appealed to her. Maybe it was finally being able to hang around like-minded women, girls who had seen combat like her. Maybe it was just nice to feel like one of the girls. It could have also been that everyone else that got in the Gundam was basically rejected by it. Overloaded by the DNI, the socket not being able to interface with any other capable pilots, one guy straight up died when he got in because he wasn’t ready and got a little cocky. It became clear after a while that Rain was the only one who could pilot the Brynhild, whether she liked it or not. Even if she did manage to sell it, the fact that it was a strange “new” model that nobody had ever seen, meant that it wasn’t of value to more practical-minded PMCs with inventories of readily available spare parts that didn’t fit this strange new suit, nor did it have any parts value because there were no other suits that were anything like it. It had been Layla that convinced her to just keep it intact, she’d figure out how to keep it in shape should Rain stay on and join the Mobile Suit core. It really didn’t seem like there was any other option for Rain at that point, and it’s not as if she wasn’t a great pilot. She was already an ace, she could handle herself, the only thing holding her back was her insecurities. Her body was literally holding her back, and Asynjur was willing to help her with that big problem. She’d give them an ace pilot and a mobile suit and they’d give her a home, which was good enough for Rain. 

It wasn’t long until the base came into view, proudly standing against the mountain it’s back side was buried in. After that mess, Rain was excited to go home and rest for a spell without that sleep having to be under the influence of a migraine. Good rest, the kind you wake up more or less refreshed from. She’d get a good opportunity for a nap when Layla was doing maintenance on her Gundam. That and the mess hall’s food was good, unlike that of every other PMC on this planet. How that happened, Rain had no clue. Maybe it was just Gramma’s expertise in the kitchen compared to every soldier who was just slapped in the kitchen as punishment. A chef who likes cooking versus someone there to serve out KP duty, there isn’t even a contest. Food and her bed awaiting her, Rain hit the throttle on the Gundam, giving the thrusters a little more juice to get her up to the landing for the Mobile Suits. Bringing the Brynhild in slowly, she saw Layla poke her head out of the hangar. After powering down the Gundam and popping the cockpit open, Rain slid down the safety railings and waved to whoever might have seen her come in.

Layla nodded as she walked over to the Brynhild, a passing acknowledgement of the ace pilot. Her interest was seeing what had happened to the Gundam in a scrap like Rain had gotten into. Usually, fights between Mobile Suits weren’t this rough, and the Gundam had always proven itself to be strangely resilient to most things an enemy suit could do. But that was the Gundam, and the surprise had long faded into the expectation and knowledge that the Gundam Brynhild was something special indeed. Figuring out what made the Brynhild tick was something Layla has been trying to do for years, and every new discovery about how the Gundam worked was Layla’s reason to get up sometimes. “So how did the redirector work? Notice anything different?”

Last time before Rain had left on her mission, Layla had installed a redirection mechanism into the Brynhild’s second Belladonna reactor. The Gundam, unlike most suits, ran two sequential reactors, one main and then a slightly smaller auxiliary unit that was initially to power the beam weapons that the Valkyrie Class had shipped with. With the absence and reliability of those beam weapons a constant question mark for Asynjur, Layla had devised a system in which the secondary reactor could be repurposed to assist in the Gundam’s other functions, along with a fine-tuning and control mechanism to assist in heat management. “Really well. She’s feeling snappier every day, either she’s getting used to me or I’m getting used to her.” Rain looked up at her suit and let a small smile cross her face. She’d grown really attached to Brynhild.

“Good to hear.” Layla pushed over a piece of scaffold to get up higher to check the myriad of joints in the Gundam’s arm. “Remember when these were so corroded you could barely get them to move?”

“Yeah. It was like physical therapy for a giant robot. She’d not been moved in so so long, and yet I owe this thing for basically saving my life back when I almost went up in flames.”

“Yeah… I’ll never understand how that happened. Like,” Layla slid down the scaffold like a fire pole, “How a Belladonna reactor went nuclear like that. They’re stable as all get out, even though out here they tend to get a little hot.” 

Rain shuddered at the thought. Deep down, she knew something was off about what happened. “Must have been bad fuel cells…” she trailed off, both not wanting to think about it and also bombarded with the memories. She looked down at the ground, clutching her cyberarm tight. It had been years ago, but it still stung like the day it happened.

Layla put her hand on Rain’s shoulder. “Sweetheart, we can always stop talking about it if you don’t want to, ok? I understand it’s a sore subject.” Rain simply nodded and gently broke away from Layla’s grip to lean up against Brynhild. Layla slumped next to her, up against the leg of the Gundam. 

Rain took a few breaths, attempting to push the intense memories, colored deep red from the reactor’s explosion, out of her mind. She had no doubt that if Brynhild wouldn’t have been there and been her chance at escape, she would have given up piloting Mobile Suits for good. She gripped her cyberarm again as phantom pains flared up. Her breaths got more labored and intense, balling up her artificial fist tight. Eventually, slowly, the intense feelings went away, and the pain in her arm died down. She slumped down with Layla. “Yeah, let’s change the subject.” she said, sounding out of breath.

“Sure.” Layla stood up and helped Rain back onto her feet, giving her a small hug too. “It’ll be ok Rainy.”

Rain nodded and shook herself out, stretching before giving Layla an ‘I’m ok’ smile. “So, anything you want help with?”

“Sure. Before we check out the powerplant I wanna take a gander at that nasty burn on the shoulder.” Rain followed Layla up the scaffold, bumping into her when Layla recoiled with her elbow over her nose. “Hey what the hell stinks?” She blurted out looking at the burn on the Gundam’s shoulder. Rain looked at her like a confused dog, what smell?

Layla kept sniffing, and arrived at the burn. “YOU!” She pointed to the burn mark on the Gundam’s shoulder. “What did you get shot with?” She turned to Rain, perplexed as usual with this machine. 

“Beam rifle from an Otr. Fucker was aiming for my head. You should have seen our scrap, girl it was amazing. I haven’t pushed myself that hard in a long time.” Rain smiled, yeah she was proud of what she did, migraines be damned, she was spicy and reckless at heart and the Brynhild was her enabler, the near indestructible Mobile Suit allowing her to shrug off beatings that would put your run of the mill suits like Otrs and Sifs, even Fafnirs in the ground. In a few rival PMCs they’d given the codename of ‘Devil’ to the Brynhild due to the winglike heatsinks on the side of the helmet looking like horns from a distance, or maybe it was due to the fact it was on fire when it was in operation. Either way, Brynhild was a monster and so was its pilot. She didn’t baby the suit, and it certainly showed.

“Beam weapons huh?” The smells of charred armor, fiberglass, ceramic and with just a hint of that Venusian air mixed into one of the most foul-smelling things to hit Layla’s nose since her time in the med ward. “Huh… It’s just charred the ceramics. The fiberglass… Yo come look at this Rain.” Rain shoved her face in beside Layla’s.

“What the fuck am I looking at?” Rain’s eyes darted all over the shoulder armor, looking for what Layla was trying to point out to her.

Layla tapped a bit of the burnt ceramic, and it fell away into dust. “Oh, that’s even worse. Wonder what they’re using… Whose Otrs?”

“Sit down first.” Rain instructed with a hint of ‘You will not believe this shit’ in her tone.

“Motherfucking Jormungand.”

Layla’s eyes were the size of grapefruits. “You’re shitting me. You’ve got to be pulling my leg right now, seriously Rain who was it?”

“Cross my heart and hope to die it was them! Dude literally said it was them!” Rain threw up her hands in mock surrender.

“Well, fuck me silly…” Layla leaned up against the scaffolding, her brain going into overdrive trying to figure out how a dead PMC, with beam weapons, had baked the armor on the Gundam to the point of it crumbling like that.

Rain got a funny look on her face in the meantime. She really wanted to say something… no, she better not, Layla was too good a friend. What if she took Rain up on the offer too? God that would be awkward.  _ I’m not ready for the implications of this! Why! Brain stop being so DIRTY for five minutes PLEASE I am BEGGING YOU. She is just my friend and I want to keep it that way because clearly I am an immature jackass who isn’t ready for even a date with a mind like this! Rain! Shut the fuck up!”  _

Rain shook her head as if to recenter herself. “Yeah, no and get this, it was my old supervisor too.”

“Ok this is too convenient.” She went back to examining the armor. “Rainy I don’t know how but I have a bad feeling about how the stars are coming together. Be careful ok?”

Rain nodded. “Hey, y’all got our shaky friend from the other one right?”

Layla stopped for a second, eyes flitting around in order to search her brain. “Yeah, yeah we did. He’s been really clammed up tight, you know the boss doesn’t do torture or anything. We’re sorta just waiting for him to crack, dude looks like he’s constantly about to shit himself.” Rain snorted. Yeah, how that dude got anywhere in the Jormungand she’d been a part of was a complete and utter mystery. She’d finish up whatever Layla needed from her, and then maybe she’d go visit Private Shakes.

* * *

  
  


On a  _ Ride  _ class cruiser, the captain’s office is one with a panoramic view of the space ahead, comprising of layered windows and a multitude of screens, with overlays upon overlays depicting everything one would need to know about the ship. Maps. News reports. Incoming and outgoing communications. This was Captain Ethan Philips’ view at his job, every single day since March, SRY 200. It had been just a few weeks since he and his battalion had left Earth on a course for Venus, a planet which he was told was barren from failed colonization efforts by the defunct Planetary Federation. He had been assured that most if not all citizens were long dead, and if there were anyone left, he was to contact his superiors for direction, not that he would need to, as it was barren of course. Ethan mulled this over, taking one of the shiny black strands of hair that framed his face and curling it around his finger. There would be a lot of time for self reflection on the way there, and his ship, the  _ Meteor,  _ at least had things like Mobile Suit simulations and mountains of paperwork for him to complete by the time he would arrive at his destination. What he would do when there? No idea, play it by ear probably. It was a strange, new frontier, not unlike the Moon back when Earth counted time in AD. Leave things alone long enough and they’ll change in ways that you will never expect.

Captain Philips was physically typical, of average height for a man his age with enough muscle to justify his rank to anyone willing to start a fight with him. He had cold, icy blue eyes that could stare flechettes through anyone with a weaker will than he. He kept his hair long and most of it in a braid at the back of his head, an homage to his late father. The old man had explained the meaning behind what each braid, each twist and colored band meant at one time when Ethan was maybe 16, and he had difficulty recalling that at the current moment. He’d send a letter to his mother later asking for it again, it was always a grounding experience to realize what his father was trying to say. His skin was a ruddy tan, a surprising sight between the admittedly milquetoast leadership of the ECGB. Recent years had brought a call for more diversity at the top, so that the ECGB Defensive Fleet would more accurately enact the will of all of Earth’s citizens. Of course Ethan knew that most of it was tokenism and that there were few who believed in his abilities to begin with. Oh well, he figured that now that he had the materials, he would use them to his advantage.

Ethan stared out the windows on his office, admiring each and every star, tracing constellations in the distance with his eyes. Stargazing was one of his favorite activities with his parents, he’d wanted to be an astronomer in his youth. Maybe when he finished his tour of duty, he’d go to college for that. He smiled at the thought. Leaning back in his chair, he imagined what life would be like when this was all over. Studying stars and planets, finding new and interesting formations and galaxies, looking through telescopes and taking pictures all day. He was determined to do well here to achieve his dream. And so, he chugged away at his paperwork, partook in the sortie simulations with his crew, and anything else possible to make Operation Tabula Rasa a success.

The stars were especially beautiful out here, and soon he’d get to see the Morning Star up close and personal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks to my fiancee for explaining how nuclear fusion and reactors work. Like, seriously she's so smart and she's half the reason we've got half the design docs for this looking as cool as they do and we're as grounded in actual science as we are, which is super neat! More thanks to everyone who gave feedback and proofread for me!

**Author's Note:**

> Big thanks to my fiancee for explaining how nuclear fusion and reactors work. Like, seriously she's so smart and she's half the reason we've got half the design docs for this looking as cool as they do and we're as grounded in actual science as we are, which is super neat!


End file.
